Objectives of 370
I'm a firm believer that a course cannot make things happen to anyone. What it can do is enable the participants to achieve certain goals, if they put their heart and soul into the effort. These are the goals that I'll be working toward in 370—that is, the things I hope every student will be able to achieve by the end of our time together:
- Informed appreciation of science fiction as a genre, a tradition, and a dialogue among texts;
- Basic familiarity with the history of modern SF, including proto-SF texts, the magazine era, the New Wave, and recent developments;
- Ability to think critically and creatively about the role of science in science fiction (and, vice versa, the role SF can play in science);
- Familiarity with select resources for doing SF research;
- Sharper reading, writing, and communication skills (as in any English course).